Relay by Smart Device: Innovative Communications for Efficient Information Sharing among Vehicles and Pedestrians

The combination of vehicles and mobile computers, such as smartphones and wearable devices, has provided many applications in our daily life. However, it is still limited to the applications in personal use. In fact, by utilizing the device-to-device technologies, which make use of the mobile device resources, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), and pedestrian-to-pedestrian (P2P) communications can be more effective and convenient. In this article, we present a concept of relay by smart device that aims at information dissemination by smart communication devices, which can contribute to efficient information sharing among vehicles and pedestrians. We propose a novel technique for effectively forming and disbanding the groups of vehicles and pedestrians for their communications. The proposed mechanism is based on three criteria, namely, the stability of the group, the activity of the group, and the qualification as a group leader. Procedures for group forming and disbanding are introduced. We develop a prototype as a smartphone application using Wi-Fi technology, referred to as the second generation of relay by smartphone, which is the smartphone type of relay by smart device. The results of the field experiment show that the proposed group-based information sharing technology has a good potential to be utilized in V2P, V2V, and P2P communications.